The boy was 13 years old when he fired nine bullets on a street in the city of Gävle in October 2025, wounding six young people. According to the prosecution, he acted on orders.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority has filed charges against a 14-year-old for the attempted murder of six people in the city of Gävle, it was announced on Friday. The boy was 13 at the time of the crime, and according to the prosecution's press release, he shot the victims on orders, on the open street Södra Kungsgatan on the night of October 3-4, 2025.
According to the prosecution, the boy fired a total of nine shots. Six young people were hit in the lower body, and some of them were minors. The prosecution states that a total of 29 people were exposed to danger due to the shooting. Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported this information citing the Swedish prosecution's press release.
A particularly concerning element of the case is the prosecution's claim that the boy acted on orders, which points to possible connections with organized crime. Sweden has been facing the problem of minors being recruited by criminal gangs to carry out violent acts for years, and this case is considered one of the most drastic examples of this phenomenon. The prosecution has not released details about who allegedly gave the order or what relationship the order-giver and the boy had.
Since the suspect was 13 at the time of the crime and is now 14, the proceedings will be conducted according to Swedish juvenile justice regulations. In Sweden, criminal responsibility applies from the age of 15, meaning the court will have to consider special legal frameworks for a person who was below that age at the time of the offense. The Swedish legal system in such cases typically provides for social protection and treatment measures instead of prison sentences, but the final decision rests with the court.
The shooting in Gävle, a city located about 170 kilometers north of Stockholm, is part of a wider picture of violence that Sweden has been recording in recent years. Swedish authorities and crime experts warn that criminal gangs are increasingly recruiting children and minors to carry out attacks, precisely because penalties for minors are significantly milder. This case, in which the alleged perpetrator was only 13, has sparked a new debate on how the state should respond to ever younger perpetrators of serious crimes.
In the past few years, Sweden has introduced a series of measures to combat gang violence, including stricter penalties, greater police powers, and prevention programs in schools and communities. Despite this, incidents like the one in Gävle show that the problem remains deep and structural. The prosecution has so far not announced a date for the start of the trial against the minor suspect.
